Update of Australia’s cervical cancer prevention initiative

News

Posted on 08 October, 2018

Australia will be the first country to eliminate cervical cancer in two decades according to the latest study funded by National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia).

Australia was one of the early pioneers in introducing the HPV vaccine for girls in 2006, and subsequently expanded it to covering both sexes in 2015. Also, Australia features a regular screening program for women aged 18 to 69. With this well-established public health initiative, it is estimated that by 2020, cervical cancer will become a rare cancer (defined by six or less new cancer cases in 100,000 women per year) and is estimated to be eliminated in future two decades.